


Shortie Squad

by MelodicAscent



Series: Kidge Week 2018 [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 3rd grade sucks, AU, Adorable, Bonding through shortness, Cute Kids, De-Aged, Elementary School, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Kidge Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 08:40:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14351919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodicAscent/pseuds/MelodicAscent
Summary: Elementary school can be hard, especially when you're smaller than everyone else. Recess can be a challenge when you can't run as fast or throw as high as the bigger kids. Good thing our two resident shorties have found each other because elementary school is a lot better when you have friends.





	Shortie Squad

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so, the theme for day 3 of Kidge week 2018 is "adore," but I couldn't really think of anything for it. Instead, I chose to change the word "adore" to "adorable." Thus, this is an elementary school AU, with little kids being adorable. Pidge, Keith, Lance, Lotor, and Hunk (though he doesn't appear in this) are all the same age.

“Come on, Katie, I need one more person on my basketball team to make it even!”

Katie looked up from her book. Lance was holding a basketball under his arm, a pleading look in his eyes. Katie just shook her head.

“I’m too small to play, Lance. I can’t throw the ball high enough to get it in the hoop. Besides, I think basketball is a waste of time.”

Aghast, Lance turned around to find somebody else to play on his team.

“You can’t throw the ball that high either, huh?”

Katie looked around for the unfamiliar voice before a small hand tapped her shoulder. She turned around to see a boy with dark hair and deep purple eyes, wearing a red Lightning McQueen T-shirt and black shorts. He was about her height, to her surprise. Most boys her age were taller than her. The girls too, come to think of it.

That was how it worked in third grade. Everybody was about the same height, except for Katie, because she was just short. She blamed her grandma, who was never any taller than 5 feet in her life. It was just Katie’s luck that she’d inherited the shortness gene.

So she was shocked to find a boy at her eye level, and she could tell he felt the same. He smiled and held out his hand to her. “I’m Akira. Keith for short. We shorties gotta stick together, right?”

Katie returned the smile. “I’m Katie. It’s short for Katelyn.”

“So we’re shorties in two ways: in height, and in our names!”

The two laughed and walked away from the basketball courts.

“But you know,” Keith said, “Katie is the same length as Katelyn. You should think about getting a shorter nickname.”

“Like what?”

Suddenly, Katie froze. Keith looked at her, his mouth agape. She stood completely still, feeling the feet on her head.

“Keith,” she whispered, “do you know what kind of bird it is?”

He tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I think it’s a pigeon. Do you want me to get it off?”

Before either kid could do anything, the bird flew away once again.

“That’s it!” Keith yelled. “I’ll call you Pidge!”

Katie looked at him incredulously. “Pidge? Really? What kind of nickname is that?”

Keith shrugged. “You had a pigeon on your head, and I figured I can’t call you pigeon since that’s two syllables too. So I shortened it to Pidge.”

Katie thought for a moment. “Pidge. You know, I kinda like it.”

The two eventually found themselves on the swings, the shorter ones that were a bit lower to the ground than the rest; the ones generally taken by first graders.

“So what are we gonna call ourselves?” Keith asked as they swung side by side.

“What do you mean?”

“We need, like, a team name or something.”

“What about Shortie Squad?”

“What’s a squad?”

“It’s just another name for group or team. It starts with an ‘s’ like shortie, so it sounds cool.”

“Shortie Squad it is. Hey Pidge, who’s your teacher?”

“I have Mrs. Jenkins.”

Keith put his feet down and stopped swinging, Pidge following suit. “Are you serious?”

“What?”

“How do we have the same teacher, but we don’t know each other?”

“Oh, I knew you were in my class, I just didn’t know your name until today.”

“You know, Pidge, you’re pretty smart. In a good way, I mean. You see things that normal people don’t see. You’re really good at paying attention to stuff.”

Pidge wasn’t really sure what to think of what he was saying. Of course, she was a great student, and she always had good grades. But a lot of times when kids called her smart, it was in more of a teasing manner. Keith had said it like a…what was the word…compilement? No, wait, compliment. Keith had given her…

“A compliment.”

“What?”

“You…gave me a compliment.”

Keith looked confused. “I didn’t give you anything.”

“A compliment is a nice word or some nice words. It’s when you say something nice to somebody, and you really mean it.”

“Oh. Yeah, then I guess I did give you one of those. Why is that so weird?”

Pidge shrugged. “People…don’t usually say nice things to me.”

Keith made a grumpy face. “That’s dumb. You’re nice and fun. Anybody who says anything mean to you is stupid.”

Pidge gasped. “We’re not supposed to say the s-word.”

They both laughed at the ridiculous rule. Pidge’s laughter was interrupted by firm hands on her back, pushing her high on the swing. She reflexively gripped the chains tighter, her heart falling into her stomach at the sudden height she was achieving.

“Little Katie is lookin’ short. Why don’t we give her some extra…um…tallness?”

She recognized that voice. “L-Lotor! Please, stop!” She tried not to cry as she held on for dear life, being pushed higher and higher.

“Leave her alone!”

Pidge couldn’t see what was going on, but she was shocked to hear Keith’s voice at her defense.

“Oh? Or what, pipsqueak?”

“I’ll…I’ll tell a teacher!”

“Oh, I’m sooo scared. Go away. There’s nothing you can do to help your little girlfriend.”

Keith twitched. Something about the word “little” got on his nerves. He could worry about “girlfriend” later, since as far as he was concerned, Pidge was a girl and his friend.

But little? Nobody called him little.

Pidge heard a scream, then crying. Then she felt somebody grab the chain below her right hand and slow her down. She slipped out of the swing when she was close enough to the ground and sat down, happy to be out of the swing.

Keith sat next to her. He was holding one of his hands gingerly. Pidge followed his line of sight to see Lotor, sitting on the ground and crying, his hands pressed against his eye.

“You…you punched Lotor.”

Keith smirked. “It was nothing. It hurt a little, though. He’s got a thick skull.”

Pidge hugged Keith, finally letting a tear fall. “Thank you, Keith. You’re my hero.”

“It’s like I said, we shorties gotta stick together.” He held his good fist out to her. “Shortie squad?”

“Shortie squad,” she said, hitting his fist with her own.

**Author's Note:**

> Before any of you who have read some of my older stuff call me out on reusing the idea from my fic "rain," IT'S DIFFERENT OKAY? Besides, I kinda like this way better, it's a little cuter.
> 
> Also, the nickname "Pidge" was something I had fun with. At first, I thought about having Pidge freak out about having a bird on her head, but ultimately decided that she'd be more curious than anything.


End file.
